The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) doubled its voter support to 20.8% in February's election, making it the second-largest power in the Bundestag. That gives it fresh momentum to target the older parties and media with a constant stream of provocations, hostility and agitation.

AfD party leader Alice Weidel is known for her harsh rhetoric. In parliamentary debates she has derided Muslim immigrants as "headscarf girls' and "knife men." That type of noise makes headlines and headlines get attention. Attention means success and success means more noise. Such is the attention economy of right-wing strategists.

However, such xenophobia violates the principles of Germany's open, pluralistic society, where the right to equal treatment before the law is a fundamental value. "No one may be disadvantaged or favored because of their gender, origin, race, language, homeland and origin, faith, religious or political views," reads Germany's Basic Law, the country's constitution.

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When constitutional lawyers warn........

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